


Home for Christmas

by BadWolfRose (BadWolf1988)



Category: Dog The Bounty Hunter
Genre: Christmas, F/M, One Shot, Romance, Song Lyrics, Songfic, X-Mas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 00:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13135020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWolf1988/pseuds/BadWolfRose
Summary: Ashley has been on the road as a stylist for the boy band *NSYNC for the past year and can't wait to get home to Texas to spend Christmas with her family. She never expected to run into the ghost of best friend's past when she got there.What in the world is Leland Chapman doing back in Groom?





	Home for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: For the final time... I am not in possession of a freakin' time machine. This story never happened. Leland is currently being held hostage by Jamie Chapman. Pray for a Christmas miracle, folks!
> 
> Disclaimer II: 'Home for Christmas' may be one of my favorite Christmas songs but I don't actually own it. The song is copyright © *NSYNC.
> 
> Author's Note: No, Hannah and Britney are NOT two random names. They are the names of Leland and Duane Lee's younger sisters on their mom's side. Thank you, Meghan, for cluing me in on that fact. I've been a fan for years and never knew that little bit of trivia.
> 
> Also, thank you to Meghan for beta reading this story for me.

**DECEMBER 20th 1999**

  
“ _Crossing the ocean with my window view,_

_Thinking of the time I spent with you…”_

Ashley closed her eyes and a pair of mischievous warm brown eyes flashed in front of her. Urgh! This had been the wrong track to listen to for take-off. Sighing, she pulled her headphones from her ears and shut off her CD player.

“Yo, Ash, you alright?” A concerned, southern laced voice asked from beside her.

“Yeah, I'm good.” She held up the plastic CD case that sat on her lap and showed it to her seatmate. “You just could have warned me y'all's winter album was going to be heavy.”

The teenage boy with the unnaturally curly blond hair gave her a faux affronted look. “I think your tone of surprise is a bit insultin'. We can be deep when we want to be.”

“Your debut album had a song called ' _Giddy Up_ ' on it and your favorite word is currently 'crunk'.” Ashley gave her boss/sixteen-year-old cousin an amused look. “Please, excuse my astonishment.”

Ashley was only nineteen but she was the stylist for the boyband, *NSYNC. Her cousin, Justin, was one of the lead singers. She had gotten the job back before the band was popular because she had a good eye for fashion and she worked for free in *NSYNC's early years.

Justin huffed before reaching over and taking the case from her. “You know, maybe this CD wouldn't be so heavy to you if you actually, you know, owned up to your feelings. It's been three years... maybe you should give Leland a call.”

Ashley looked at her cousin in shock. How in the hell did the little Michael Jackson wannabee know about her feelings for her former best friend? Ashley lived in Texas and Justin in Orlando. Damn it! Her mom had been yapping to her aunt Lynn again!

Ashley turned to Justin with a smirk on her face. “I have two words for you: Britney Spears.”

Justin quickly glanced towards the back of the private plane where the teenage pop star in question was reading a magazine. “Point taken.” He let the subject drop.

 

The cab delivered Ashley to her mom's house in Groom just as a pick-up truck joined the line of cars that were parked in front on the dirt road. It was the evening of her mom's annual Christmas party.

She was grabbing her luggage out of the trunk when she heard a voice that she was in no way prepared to hear ask, “need a hand?”

Leland didn't give her a chance to respond. He reached into the trunk and grabbed her overstuffed duffel bag and threw the strap over his shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” She kept her voice friendly as they headed for the house. The last she had heard, Leland was living in Hawaii and working for his dad's bail bond firm. They hadn't seen one another in damn near three years.

“I'm in town visiting my mom and sisters for Christmas,” Leland explained as he held open the front door for her. “Momma told me that you were expected home today. Though I'd stop by and we could catch up.”

Catch up? He wanted to stop by so they could catch up? Did the jackass just forget that he had disappeared without a word to her three years ago? They had been best friends their whole lives and he had moved out of state without so much as a 'goodbye'. She had learned of his relocation from his younger sisters, Hannah and Britney.

Once her mom caught sight of her, she had no time to talk for while.

Leland reached out and took her book bag from her. “I'll put your stuff in your room.” She heard him say as her mom pulled her into a bear hug.

Ashley didn't manage another moment to herself until almost two hours later. After dinner, she had snuck out onto the back porch for a cigarette.

“ _On my own for too many years,_

_I miss the happiness,_

_I miss the tears._

  
_When I close my eyes,_

_And I'm all alone,_

_I think of all the love we share...”_

“Fuck you, Justin,” Ashley huffed to herself at the song drifting from inside the house... or so she thought.

“Whoa, what'd Justin do?” Leland was sitting on the porch steps. “I figured you'd reserve the 'fuck you's for me.”

Ashley sighed. “Justin's in trouble because the aim of *NSYNC's Christmas album seems to be to make me think about your dumb ass. Can you take a guess why I'm mad at you?” She sat next to him on the porch step and passed him the cigarette so he could take a drag. It was an ingrained habit from their high school days when they would ditch class to smoke under the bleachers. “Why'd you leave without saying a word? One minute, we're best friends, the next, Hannah and Britney are telling me that you upped and moved to Hawaii while I was out of town.”

Leland took a long drag off of the cigarette before answering her. “I wasn't exactly given a choice.”

“What are you talking about?” She turned to look at him in the yellow glow of the porch light.

Leland handed the cigarette back to her. “It was back when you had gone to Germany with Justin and his band when they were on their first tour. I got into some trouble. I was running with some dudes I shouldn't have been. We got busted trying to boost a car. The judge gave me a choice. I could go to juvie until I turned eighteen or I could go and live with my old man in Hawaii.”

“And your sisters left that part out of the story because...?” Ashley asked as she took one final drag off of the cigarette before stubbing it out on the step. “And you couldn't call? Write? E-mail? Hawaii's not that primitive. You could have gotten in touch with me if you had really wanted to.”

“I did want to!” Leland ran a hand over his face. “I asked Hannah and Britney not to tell you about my arrest and I didn't get in touch because I didn't want you to be ashamed of me.”

“You were my best friend, you asshole! You didn't think that I'd miss you when you disappeared?” She shoved her shoulder roughly into his. “I NEVER would have judged you and why did my opinion matter so fucking much to you anyway?”

“You're joking, right?” Leland turned to look at her. “Your opinion is the only one that EVER really mattered to me. I love you, you ditz.”

“Did you just call me a ditz?”

“Did you, maybe, miss the more important part of that statement, sweetheart?”

“Don't call me sweetheart!”

“Seriously, Ashley, are you screwing with me, woman? You're blonde but you're not that blonde. I just told you that I love you.”

Holy shit. It finally sunk in. Leland loved her. She blurted out the first thing that popped into her brain. “If I tell you that I love you too and kiss you... you're not gonna disappear on me again, are you?”

“Not a chance in hell, sweetheart.” Leland shook his head with a hopeful smile.

“Good.” She leaned over and sealed their lips together.

  
  


**CHRISTMAS EVE, 2017**

  
“ _But you can light the fire,_

_I'm sending out this wire,_

_Cause this year,_

_I'll be home for Christmas Day...”_

Ashley couldn't help the little smile on her face as she filled her kid's Christmas stockings. Headphones for Dakota, art supplies for Cobie, and a Barbie Doll for Leiah. The rest of the stockings were full of candy, including some chocolate coal that Leland and Duane Lee had found in a local joke shop.

“You know…” a pair of familiar strong arms wrapped around her waist. “Once upon a time, this song had you cursing me and Justin.”

She turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, after almost twenty years, a happy marriage, and three awesome kids... I think you're both forgiven.

Her husband laughed before leaning forward for a kiss.

  
  


**FINIS**

[ _**MY WEBSITE** _ ](http://WWW.BADWOLFROSE.COM)


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